Known for its live music evenings, Ella – one of three venues that comprise Singular Concepts’ music hub The Trilogy atop H Code – is one of the best joints in Hong Kong to sample classic flavours from the early 20th century, the era in which Ella Fitzgerald became the First Lady of Song.
The concept of the pickleback began in 2006 with Bob McClure, who founded McClure’s Pickles in his kitchen just above Bushwick Country Club in Brooklyn, New York. The story goes that he handed off excess stock to the bar, which began serving the brine as a shot or paired with whiskey. The combo gained traction and media exposure through to the 2010s and, according to Punch, presented an easy, accessible way to enjoy a shot of whiskey contrasting with the rise of craft cocktails around the same time. In that same Punch piece, a first reaction to the drink was that it “erased the shot [of whiskey]”.
It reads as a story of a bar staying open to what’s at hand, what could be interesting, and doing their utmost to give their guests a good time – not unlike early cocktail culture, which added elements to spirits to make them palatable, or even unnoticeable during Prohibition.
The spec of the Clarified Bloody Mary reads similarly. The drink comprises vodka, tomato and lemon juices, green salsa, Worcestershire sauce, tabasco, salt, black pepper, Gurung’s own secret blend of hot sauce, and pickle brine. Gurung and his team use a centrifuge to clarify the drink, then carbonate it using a soda maker. As is the tradition with a classic Bloody Mary, “The reason to carbonate the drink is to intensify aromas and taste, making the drink more appealing and refreshing.”